Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tonight we were all playing together on the floor. The favorite game was putting a blanket over mommy's head and giving her a big bear hug to knock her over (him not me). We were having such a good time. . . and then it happened.

As his mother way lying on the floor the little MonkeyBear threw the blanket over her and started to climb up and her head (it was covered by the blanket). He then began to hump her head.

I wish I were kidding.

It got to the point I had to pull him off of her because she couldn't pry him off while lying down. I know he wasn't, you know, REALLY humping her. He was playing and it was probably more jumping than humping. Still it's not something you want to see. He was like a cocker spaniel. I think I need to get a squirt bottle to shoot him if he does it again.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Friday, February 13, 2009

We've been shielding our son from peanuts like recommended by most experts. The idea was that exposure to peanuts caused allergies. And now this comes up. For those who don't want to jump to the story, it basically says that early exposure to peanuts is actually the key to preventing peanut allergies.

In addition to that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that the link between vaccines and autism is crap. The story is from NPR so it has lots of in depth related articles. I also found there that actress Amanda Peet has spoken out against Jenny McCarthy. I used to not like Amanda Peet.

It comes down to this. Parents are always going to be doing something wrong. Did they questions giving us the Polio vaccine? No, they knew Polio could kill us so they made us get a shot. Did they keep us from food products for fear it'd cause allergies? No, they fed us everything.

Sleep on the back, sleep on the stomach, sleep on the back. Breast milk, no formula, no breast milk. Does anyone know? What we think we're doing right now we'll be doing wrong in 5 years. How many people older than you have rolled their eyes at the thought of your video monitor or the 3 car seats you've bought? In a few years, we'll have done everything wrong and there will be a whole new set of rules.

One last note. How would parents and society be reacting if it was found that TV consumption was directly related to autism? Specifically shows with bright colors and cheery singing?

Friday, February 6, 2009

When laying in bed not sleeping (either before going to sleep or when he wakes up) he reaches through the bars of his crib to the adjacent laundry basket and pulls out as many dirty items as he can. He then snuggles with them and smashes them on his face giggling.

He loves playing in boxes, not with boxes, in boxes. I've mentioned before his car seat box that he plays in often. He still does that, he also plays in an old treadmill box that I used to make a Spongebob Squarepants Halloween costume many years ago (I can't imagine why he's weird). The last night we had our parent education over. She was going over the screening he had the visit earlier and was telling us he is the only kid in her 40 child caseload who is at or above where he should be on everything. Bragging about how smart and developed he is. . . meanwhile he's climbing into a small box and then wearing it on his head and shaking it all about. So much for thinking he's developing well.

Two nights ago he was playing the freezer while I was getting something out. I used my foot to slide him backwards on the kitchen floor. He decided then and there that he'd keep going backwards. He crawled backwards all the way out of the kitchen. Then yesterday he slid on his belly backwards two different times. About 15 feet each time, until he backed into a wall.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Two simple little sounds, strung together, nothing fancy, not even really a word. Hell, I even encouraged him to learn it. I thought it would be cute and it was. . . for the first couple times.

Now it's his signature move. . . or sound. It wouldn't be so bad if ut-oh meant "ut-oh" but he doesn't use it when something happens accidentally. He uses it when he makes something happen, as in "ut-oh I threw my cup on the floor on purpose" or "ut-uh I grabbed the remote control and reset all the channels so we only get static now."

Of course when the stopper falls out of his sippy cup and milk pours all down his neck and shirt he doesn't say ''ut-oh." No, he just sits there milk dripping from his chin wondering what the hell happened.

So he just walks around the house knocking things over and saying "ut-oh" in his little sing song voice. I can't wait for the day he looks at us, says "ut-oh" and THEN drops something on purpose.

"Ut-oh" is a big deal. It means he is starting to realize he has control over parts of his world. Along with his love for "ut-oh," he's climbing now. He concentrates on one thing at a time sometimes and he isn't so easily distracted. He loves to play on his own, but sometimes playing with us is more fun. He knows he is his own person now. He's not attached to his mother and me (though sometimes I think he'd like to be). He's becoming independent. He's growing up.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Last night I got a horrible scare. I arrived home and started making dinner. Skippy Jr. was wandering around with his snack trap eating goldfish crackers. My wife had left us alone to go to the bathroom. Skippy Jr. was hanging onto my leg while I was preparing dinner (he likes me to lift him up so he can see) and was whining that he wanted up.

The whining sound suddenly sounded. . . well soundless actually. He started having trouble breathing. He tried to cry but he couldn't. He was choking on a goldfish. The combination of whining and looking up at me while trying to eat made one of his crackers to fall down his throat.

I don't know which of us was freaked out more. I yelled for my wife (she never heard me) and thrust me finger down his throat to see if I could sweep it out. I felt it, but it was too far in to sweep out. I started trying different combinations of squeezing him around the belly and slapping him on the back. After that and one more sweep down his throat the goldfish became dislodged (I think it went down instead of up).

And what was the first thing he did after he was breathing normally again?

He signed "more" and pointed at the snack trap that I had moved to the counter.